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Between The Lines Week 1

I’m over the moon excited today! It is time for the eBook of my blog series, “Between the Lines” ( pun intended), bloggers age 50 and older you should be following. I originally thought maybe I could get 25 interested bloggers. Then I had about 40 and I thought, 50 over 50 bloggers would be fun. Imagine my surprise when I realized there were 89! Do you remember, I mentioned my favorite thing was the number 89. Every Tuesday for 10 weeks I celebrated and introduced bloggers of a certain age. I asked questions about the joys and pitfalls of being a blogger age 50 and older. I asked the hard hitting questions like, “what is in your fridge right now”,” or “what would you bring with you to a desert island.” That’s right, nobody will be spared. Just deep journalism here my sweet bloggy friends.

A blog series can’t be successful unless everyone participates. I invite you to join me and tweet, pin, share and do all of the other goodies you can to spread the word of this valued, sometimes overlooked, group of tremendous bloggers. Then all you have to do is click on each of the blogs on the list below to discover their blogs and get to know just what a blogger of a certain age has to share. In the interest of full disclosure, as you know, I am a blogger age 55 and you can find out about me at the end of the book.

It’s time to rock blog land. It is my pleasure to introduce you to this weeks featured bloggers.

Meet Nancy from On The Home FrontShe is a Master Gardner and she lives in the place I have always wanted to visit,Vermont! Wouldn’t Autumn in Vermont be beautiful. She shares gardening tips, recipes and frugal living inspiration.
I asked Nancy Do you think its important to create posts that are directed at readers of a certain age? I think the answer to this question would depend upon the content of your blog. For example if you are focusing on raising children then probably your readership will be other young moms. If your blog is about travel then your readership might be focused on slightly older people who travel more often. In my case the focus of my blog “Nancy On The Home Front” is learning to live a healthier life, one step at a time, Each week I share posts on clean eating, adding fitness into your life, gardening and preserving your harvest and frugal tips. Fridays I always share delicious recipes usually focused on good healthy eating, but not always! I do not create posts that are geared toward a certain age group but hope to have readers of all ages.
If we looked in your fridge what would be the one thing that might surprise us? This was a harder question for me to answer, I do have various homemade preserves in my fridge from homemade jams to my special Rhubarbaque Sauce which is a delicious preserve which I used on grilling pork and chicken made from our own rhubarb. The most surprising item might be the various home brews you might find. My husband is an avid home brewer making the most excellent beers, hard ciders and mead! We use local ingredients such as local honey to make the mead, local antique apple cider to make the hard cider and he has even brewed beer with our own maple sap!

Meet Marie the Interior Frugalista, she refuses to let living on a tight budget stop her from creating a home that she and her family will love. She incorprates elements and furniture makeovers that are a reflection of their personalities. I asked What is your favorite blog topic to share? My favorite blog topic is sharing my rescued furniture transformations. I get such joy from the creative process and it never ceases to amaze me what a can of paint will do to completely transform them. I also take great satisfaction knowing that I’ve recycled and re-purposed something that might otherwise end up in the landfill.
If we opened your pantry right now what indulgence would we find? Well first of all, I wish I had a pantry! Our modest 1960’s home has a tiny kitchen so we designated a tall cupboard as our pantry. Currently there are no cookies, although I’ve gone in there a number of times looking for some. There is a half eaten crumbs left in the bottom of a bag of Lay’s Ripple Potato Chips. I often wish I would open the doors and a bar of Lindt or Bernard Callebaut chocolate was waiting for me but that wish has yet to come true. My latest guilty pleasure is Lay’s Chocolate Potato Chips – I hear Angels sing when I spot a bag of those in our pantry.

Meet Jill from Stark Raving Motherhood she believes a positive attitude is everything. She likes to inspire people to find and use their strengths and interests. Jill is a Award winning artist and humorist who knows just what to say to make you smile. I asked Jill what do you do when you are having writers block? I keep zillions of notes as I get thoughts – it’s more about making the time to focus. A due date is a good lasso. If I truly need a jump start I pour over my comedy notes and do an open mic night. When I know I have a set coming up it switches on my life observation receptors like the stadium lights being powered in the movie The Natural. Nothing like the fear of bombing in real time to snap you out of it! It informs almost everything else I do. This will be helpful to almost no one – but try to think about doing a comedy set and feel that fear….see what I mean? GAME ON! What is your favorite movie and why? I have a few for different reasons and couldn’t possibly pick just one! Casablanca – the story takes twists and turns, the dialogue is snappy, the timing is impeccable and the textures and shading that you only see in black & white movies is pure artistry.Sabrina – because..Harrison Ford. It hits so many of my romantic dream G-(rated) spots. Harrison, excruciating wealth, living in Paris, Martha’s Vineyard, the love story…. and Maude, the mother delivers some hysterical lines. Stand and Deliver – Communicating and motivating… is this talking the language of anyone here? A teacher figuring out how to crack the status qua and get through to the tough kids to challenge and motivate. He makes a difference in an entire cultural mindset.

Meet Linda from Paper Seedlingsshe is a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator and blogger. Creating something every day keeps Linda happy and sane. She makes beautiful greeting cards. I love sending cards, I know it is old fashioned but I love it. I asked Linda,What were you most surprised to learn when you first began blogging? While I was preparing to embark on my new career as a blogger, I was aware that I would need a certain amount of computer know-how. I was amazed to discover just how un-tech-savvy I actually was. Not being one of the young’uns who grew up with computer technology, this proved to be a real eye opener for me. And something that I struggle with mightily to this day. You make beautiful cards. Which occasion is your favorite to create? Why, thank you so much! It may sound somewhat odd that I am not able to choose a favorite occasion for which to create a greeting. Take note that on many of the cards in my blog posts, there often is no occasion mentioned. In fact, I like to think that each of my cards is a little masterpiece in itself that could be used for virtually any occasion or no occasion at all. An appropriate sentiment can always be stamped inside the card. Or, the creator/sender of a card could write their feelings and greetings inside the card. My favorite cards are almost always those that have no sentiment on the front of the card. In fact, one card that I keep sitting on my desk alongside my computer is a fall-flavored one that features a sponged DSP die-cut maple leaf with a stamped border, baker’s twine and a button. No sentiment whatsoever. It would be appropriate for absolutely any occasion. Or just to enjoy looking at and eliciting a smile.

Meet Lynne from Turnips to Tangerinesshe’s a Wisconsin blogger who shares recipes that are fast, easy and delicious. I asked Lynne, As a recipe blogger do you find it beneficial to use pinterest to drive traffic to your blog? As with any social media platform, it is always beneficial to use any social media platform to drive
traffic to your blog. With pinterest, it is extra beneficial because you have the visual aspect and the recipe (with some “pins”) is also available. The secret to pinterest is to pin, pin and pin some more.The more you pin, the more traffic you’ll drive to your blog. What one thing do you never leave home without?I never, ever leave my house without my purse, which contains everything I would need to get me through my day…phone, keys, money, credit cards, medicine, candy, a snack, perfume, hand lotion, lip gloss…
you name it, it’s in there!

Meet Marilyn from Marilyn’s Treats, many of you will recognize her as one of my wonderful hostesses for the Thursday Favorite Things blog hop. Marilyn is a bright light in my blog family. Marilyn is from a small community in Michigan (my hubby is too) that is surrounded by lakes and trees. She enjoys the simple things and is married to her high school sweetheart. I asked Marilyn, as a food blogger do you think it is necessary to use a particular post format in order to increase subscribers? I think it is necessary to introduce your recipe. A good recipe plugin is an absolute must. I use Easy Recipe. It is easy to follow and has schema markup builtin for Google SEO. Recipe clippers want everything in one place. It should be at the beginning of the post with a finished image. Most places where you submit your recipe grab the first image of the post. If you want to narrate the steps to create the dish those steps and images should follow later. Readers don’t want to see a counter of ingredients, pictures of breaking an egg, the bowl with the egg, etc. They love to see the more intricate techniques you use. Too many images slows your site load and may even crash your site when trying to pin your image. Videos are a great option for cooks that want to demonstrate the method of preparing their dish. The attention span of a recipe audience is shorter than a diy or lifestyle audience. What is your favorite movie snack? My favorite movie snack is a bottom of the bag combination of salty and sweet snacks, nuts and crunchy items. Dried fruit is great. I like to call this a clean hands dump and go mix.

Meet Laurie from Vanity and Me she is a fashion and beauty blogger for the more mature woman. Someone not ready to hang up their high heels yet. She is a professional hairdresser and beauty therapist and she owns three salons.

Meet Amy Stylin’ Granny Mama she encourages you to pull up a chair, take off your shoes, grab your mug as she shares her faith, fashion, family and more every week. I asked her, What do you find most surprising about blogging as a 50 plus blogger? It has to be the enormous amount of work involved. Since I post 5 days a week, I knew the writing would be significant, but that was okay because one of the key reasons I started a blog was to get myself writing. Give me an idea and I can write. There are two key factors that surprised me. One, that my “old” brain could actually process and figure out some of the technical aspects of blogging. I do have my daughter Rebecca to thank for that. Let’s face it, before I started blogging I didn’t even know how to download a picture. Now I’m downloading, cutting and pasting and linking up. Whoo, hoo! The other factor was the amount of time networking takes. Networking is necessary in order to get my blog out there, but following other blogs, making comments and posting in other groups on Facebook all take time. I am enjoying it, but the time factor is what surprised me most.
If you could own one designer piece of clothing or accessory what would it be and why? I actually had to laugh that you gave me that question. I am so not a fashionista. I mean I’ve heard of Dior and Ralph Lauren, but beyond that I am clueless. And I could not even tell you what they design. I grew up a tomboy and have a love for the outdoors. I didn’t follow designers or Hollywood related events where one might see some of those designers’ creations. Only recently, in the last few years have I gotten interested in fashion and you might say, I am more about what works for each individual woman. How many of us could actually afford designer merchandise anyway? So, to answer your question, I would say cultured pearls, because they were designed by the Master Creator Himself.

Get to know these fabulous bloggers and meet even more. Send a little comment love their way too. Comments are like hugs.

It is a pleasure to highlight all of the lovely bloggers in the Between the Lines blog series.

Marilyn is the owner, writer, and most times photographer at Marilyn's Treats. She loves to learn new things and is always improving her recipes, blog designs and articles. If you need guidance she is there to help but is the first to remind you most everything she does is an adventure in trial and error. Come visit in her office/kitchen and see what trouble she is brewing up now!

About Marilyn

Marilyn is the owner, writer, and most times photographer at Marilyn's Treats. She loves to learn new things and is always improving her recipes, blog designs and articles. If you need guidance she is there to help but is the first to remind you most everything she does is an adventure in trial and error. Come visit in her office/kitchen and see what trouble she is brewing up now!